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To help rice growers make good decisions, LSU AgCenter economist Michael Deliberto prepares a variety of farm management tools and keeps close tabs on market conditions.
Rice enterprise budgets: Updated and released annually, these spreadsheets contain projected costs and returns for rice production in Louisiana for the upcoming crop year. Growers can enter their estimated costs and quantities for items like labor, fuel, fertilizer and irrigation to get customized budgets.
The Microsoft Excel files are available at no cost on the AgCenter website. Variations are offered for conventional, Clearfield, hybrid and Provisia rice systems; water and drill planting; flooded and furrowirrigated rice; and northeast and southwest Louisiana.
“This type of planning information plays a pivotal role in the development of annual crop production plans by producers,” Deliberto said. “In addition, information regarding production alternatives and costs and returns for major crop enterprises is needed by extension personnel, researchers, ag lending institutions and agribusiness firms.”
Just as no two rice farming operations are alike, no two budgets are alike. Deliberto has worked to make the budget spreadsheets more detailed to account not only for estimated net returns and cash flow but also for the nuances of each farm. The budget templates “can consider other management decision areas such as enterprise compatibility, alternative land rental arrangements, ARC and PLC farm program payments and crop insurance coverage efficiency,” Deliberto said.
Economic Analysis Deliberto studies economic considerations related to emerging production practices, including climate-smart methods. He is currently analyzing the cost effectiveness of alternative irrigation systems such as alternate wetting and drying (AWD) given varying degrees of irrigation frequency.
Newsletters: “Growers must have access to timely market information,” Deliberto said. To meet this need, he writes a monthly crop market report that summarizes the domestic market situation as well as international dynamics that are impacting the global rice market. He also publishes a quarterly agricultural policy newsletter that focuses on policy issues of interest to rice growers, such as the development of the farm bill, H-2A labor, conservation program availability, export trends and trade. To be added to the distribution lists for these publications, email Deliberto at mdeliberto @agcenter.lsu.edu.
